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Infidels,
Freethinkers, Humanists, and Unbelievers |
Aristippus
(B.C. 435-356) |
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“The art of life lies in taking pleasures
as they pass, and the keenest pleasures are not intellectual, nor
are they always moral.”
“Native
ability without education is like a tree without fruit”
“It
is better to be a beggar than ignorant; For the beggar only wants
money, but an ignorant person wants humanity.”
--
Aristippus
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Aristippus
was a Greek philosopher born in Cyrene in Africa. He was evidently
well-known as a follower of Socrates, since Plato in the Phaedo
-- his account of Socrates' last day -- makes an inquirer express
surprise at the report that Aristippus was not at Socrates' side
when the latter was executed; it turned out that Aristippus happened
to be away, on the island of Aegina with another of Socrates' associates
Cleombrotus. Aristippus goes otherwise unmentioned in Plato's dialogues,
though he does appear in Xenophon's writings. According to Aeschines
Socraticus, Aristippus was originally attracted to Athens "because
of Socrates' fame".
Diogenes Laertius relates a number of
stories involving Aristippus at the court of Dionysius or Dionysius
the Younger. Either Aristippus himself or his grandson Aristippus
was the founder of the Cyrenaic school, which endorsed hedonism
and egoism. The elder Aristippus' daughter Arete of Cyrene was
said to have been a philosopher herself, who educated the younger
Aristippus, who was consequently nicknamed Metrodidactus or "Mother-Taught".
None of the writings of either Aristippus has survived.
Aristippus
founder of the Cyrenaic School of Greek philosophy. He was a pupil
of Socrates who turned to the Skeptics and held that no knowledge
beyond common human experience possible-in modern language Agnosticism.
His native city Cyrene was in that part of Africa which is now
called Libya but was at that time a lovely and populous region,
the Florida of the Greek world. So what is called the philosophy
of the Cyrenaic school was simply that man ought to make life
as pleasant as possible. It is, however, false that he advocated
surrender to sensual pleasure. He often abstained for a long period
to show that he was master of himself and his pleasures. |
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The information on which this page
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